If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. Remember to click the link in your activation email after you register. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Sara Packer, Charged in Dismemberment of Adopted Daughter, Was Fired from County Social Worker Position for Ethical 'Misconduct'

Sara Packer, the adoptive mother charged in her daughter's dismemberment, was fired by Northampton County in April 2010 from a supervisory role in the county's Children, Youth and Families, where she worked for more than seven years.

The county administrator cited "the seriousness of these allegations of misconduct" in a termination letter provided to NBC10.com.

Packer was arrested over the weekend and charged with criminal homicide, conspiracy-forcible rape, kidnapping and numerous other charges for her alleged role in the murder of her adopted daughter, Grace Packer. David Sullivan, Sara Packer's live-in boyfriend, was also charged with criminal homicide, rape and other related charges for allegedly carrying out what authorities described as a gruesome rape and murder.

Both suspects are being held without bail in Bucks County.

Sara Packer's termination letter, dated April 15, 2010, indicated that Packer worked as a caseworker supervisor in the county Children, Youth and Family agency. It was provided to NBC10.com through a right-to-know request.

The exact reason for her termination was redacted by the county solicitor's office, which cited the reason for the redaction as "references to state agency investigations which are not subject to public disclosure."

County administrator Kevin Dolan wrote in the letter that Packer initially told him of what were eventually deemed fireable offenses on Jan. 20, 2010.

"Based on the seriousness of these allegations of misconduct, you were suspended without pay effective January 20, 2010, pending the completion of the investigation," Dolan wrote.

The letter goes on to note that the termination was based in part on documents Packer provided and that her "undisputed actions" violated the county's ethics and disciplinary employee codes.

Northampton County Controller Stephen Barron Jr. told NBC10 Philadelphia he is demanding those who work for the county take a good look into the case files Sara Packer worked on and supervised.

"She represents the worst of a children and youth worker," he said.

Another record provided to NBC10.com showed Packer's employment record with Northampton County.

She was hired Jan. 13, 2003 as a caseworker in Children, Youth and Family. Her starting salary was $26,621. Six months later, her probationary period ended.

In September 2005, she was given a raise and promotion.

In July 2007, she again received a promotion, this year to casework supervisor.

By December 2009, after 10 raises, Packer received a pay increase to $44,662 a year.

A month later, she was suspended without pay.

The record indicated "termination (involuntary)" on April 15, 2010.

Her firing occurred two months before a Lehigh County detective received a report of possible child sexual abuse by Sara Packer's then-husband, David Packer, according to a criminal affidavit filed in Lehigh County later that year.

David Packer eventually pleaded guilty to statutory sexual assault after authorities charged him with allegedly assaulting two underage children. The criminal affidavits in the cases indicated one victim was an adopted child of David Packer and another was his foster child.

Authorities have since said that Sara and David Packer fostered numerous children over a period stretching more than a decade.

more at link

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” ~ Anatole France

Police Search Home of 3rd Person of Interest in Rape, Murder, Dismemberment of Teen Girl

Jan 10, 2017

Police searched the Horsham, Pennsylvania apartment of a third person of interest in the rape, murder and dismemberment of a 14-year-old girl.

Detectives from both Montgomery and Bucks counties arrived at the apartment shortly before 4 p.m. Tuesday and left with what appeared to be a box of evidence after about an hour. They did not reveal what they were looking for at the apartment specifically.

The woman who lives at the apartment was involved in a polyamorous relationship with Jacob Sullivan and Sara Packer, according to investigators. Both Sara Packer and Sullivan are charged in the rape, murder and dismemberment of Packer’s 14-year-old adopted daughter Grace Packer. They are both being held without bail in Bucks County.

The third person of interest lived with Sullivan and Packer inside the Horsham apartment for about a year and a half, according to officials. The woman, who we are not identifying since she has not been charged with a crime, called 911 back on December 30, 2016 after she found Sullivan barely conscious and unresponsive inside their bedroom.

“I don’t know if you have watched the news lately,” the woman told the dispatcher, according to the affidavit. “Someone we were involved with was recently...It’s a big mess. It’s a big mess and I don’t really know how to explain it. But oh my God.”

She also later found Packer unconscious in the bathroom and took her to the hospital. Police say Packer and Sullivan both tried to overdose on drugs as part of a suicide pact.

During his time recovering at Abington Hospital, Sullivan allegedly confessed to staff members that he and Packer had conspired to kill Grace. Police say Sullivan confessed to raping the teen while Packer watched, storing her body in the attic of their Quakertown home, dismembering her body months later and dumping her remains in a wooded area in Luzerne County. Police say Packer helped Sullivan dispose of her daughter’s body and then lied to investigators for months as they searched for the girl, whose remains were later found by a group of hunters.

more at link

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” ~ Anatole France

EASTON, Pa. - A 14-year-old Pennsylvania girl raped, tortured and killed at her adoptive mother’s home had been abused or neglected in at least three homes during her short life.

A lawyer for Grace Packer’s birth parents told The Associated Press they lost custody of the toddler over allegations that other adults were sexually abusing their young children.

Grace was then adopted by adoption worker Sara Packer when she was 3, only to have Packer’s husband go to prison after molesting Grace when she was 9. He also was found guilty of raping a 15-year-old foster child.

snipped

“It sounds like this poor girl went through hell,” said lawyer David Tornetta, who had fought for the birth parents to keep their three young children. He called them good people who perhaps lacked the money and skills to care for them. When he learned this week that their middle child, then called “Susan,” was the girl found killed and dismembered, he wondered if he had done enough for the family.

By the time Sara Packer reported her daughter missing in July - telling police the teen may have run away - she no longer wanted her, prosecutors said. She and Sullivan started planning her death as soon as Grace returned from a long stay with an out-of-state relative, they said.

“She was unwanted. They wanted to ship her out. ... And when that failed, they plotted to kill her,” said Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Schorn, who oversees major crimes prosecutions in Bucks County.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” ~ Anatole France

EASTON, Pa. - A 14-year-old Pennsylvania girl raped, tortured and killed at her adoptive mother’s home had been abused or neglected in at least three homes during her short life.

A lawyer for Grace Packer’s birth parents told The Associated Press they lost custody of the toddler over allegations that other adults were sexually abusing their young children.

Grace was then adopted by adoption worker Sara Packer when she was 3, only to have Packer’s husband go to prison after molesting Grace when she was 9. He also was found guilty of raping a 15-year-old foster child.

snipped

“It sounds like this poor girl went through hell,” said lawyer David Tornetta, who had fought for the birth parents to keep their three young children. He called them good people who perhaps lacked the money and skills to care for them. When he learned this week that their middle child, then called “Susan,” was the girl found killed and dismembered, he wondered if he had done enough for the family.

By the time Sara Packer reported her daughter missing in July - telling police the teen may have run away - she no longer wanted her, prosecutors said. She and Sullivan started planning her death as soon as Grace returned from a long stay with an out-of-state relative, they said.

“She was unwanted. They wanted to ship her out. ... And when that failed, they plotted to kill her,” said Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Schorn, who oversees major crimes prosecutions in Bucks County.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A woman charged along with her boyfriend in the rape, murder and dismemberment of her adopted 14-year-old daughter took in 30 foster kids before her then-husband was deemed a sexual predator, according to officals.

Former adoption worker Sara Packer and her ex-husband fostered the children from 2000 to 2010, when they led a transient life in northeast Pennsylvania, state officials confirmed on Friday. The state's Department of Human Services said it was reviewing the family's history leading up to the torture death of adopted daughter Grace Packer.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” ~ Anatole France

GLENSIDE, Pa. --
The smiles radiate from photos posted online by friends: Grace Packer sporting an impish grin as a toddler, floating happily in a pool as a young teen, leaning in to talk to a friend at her school lunch table.

But the 14-year-old posted a more haunting picture, a forlorn selfie taken in a dimly lit room, when she opened a Facebook account last year and invited people to comment on it. No one did.

At the time, police believe, Grace's adoptive mother and the mother's boyfriend were plotting to kill her.

Grace, who moved a lot and had a learning disability, looked out for the lonely kids at school. She befriended Jackie Horst's autistic son, eating lunch with him at Abington Junior High.

"She showed patience for him and kindness toward him, and he thought she was really pretty and so nice," said Horst, whose son gave Grace flowers on Valentine's Day. "(She) didn't really mind about some of his quirks."

But the friends couldn't see each other outside school in Glenside, Montgomery County. Horst tried reaching out to Grace's mother, but Sara Packer never responded. The ninth-grader had described the adults at home as "mean" but never said more to Horst's son.

snipped

Despite her home life, Grace's list of favorite things echoed those of dreamy young girls everywhere: the colors purple and pink, butterflies, signing "Gracie" with a heart in place of the dot.

"She was kept isolated," said Nadine Barnett, one of the Abington parents who organized a public memorial for Grace on Monday. "(But she) was a really good friend to people who needed her."

snipped

By 2015, Sara Packer was living with Sullivan, a draftsman, and working at a call center.

Grace had been sent to North Carolina to live with a relative in January 2015. Photos posted on a memorial Facebook page show breezy summer memories as Grace holds hands with a friend in the ocean, tries miniature golf and bounces off a diving board.

But the relative's situation changed, and Grace returned to her mother that November.

"They wanted to ship her out, and when that failed, they plotted to kill her," said Bucks County Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Schorn.

Grace was last seen at a Fourth of July picnic last year. Four days later, Sara Packer watched as Sullivan - after taking Viagra - raped her daughter, police said.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” ~ Anatole France

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS) — The woman accused of killing her adopted daughter in what prosecutors have called “a rape murder fantasy” remains on suicide watch in Bucks County Correctional Facility.

Keith Williams and John Fioravanti are court appointed attorneys for Sara Packer, the adoptive mother of 14-year-old Grace Packer, whose remains were found in the woods in Luzerne county in October.
ADVERTISING

Williams says while it is very early in the case, after two meetings with Packer, he sees a history of mental illness.

“She’s been treated in many facilities in this area and the Lehigh Valley,” Williams said. “She also has a history of being used and manipulated by men in her life.”

snipped

Packer is represented by the public defender’s office. She and Sullivan were scheduled for a preliminary hearing Friday, but it’s has been rescheduled to next month.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Here we go, going for the insanity plea. Pfft!

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” ~ Anatole France

Authorities have filed additional charges against Sara Packer — the Abington woman accused of conspiring to rape and murder her 14-year-old adopted daughter — alleging that she continued to cash monthly government checks for the girl's care after her killing.

snipped

In new court filings on Thursday, Packer was charged with theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, tampering with public records, and misapplication of entrusted property, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said Friday.

The new charges allege that Packer collected adoption subsidies payments from Berks County and Social Security benefits to be used for Grace’s care for months after the girl's death. She was required by law to give notice if Grace died.

Instead, Packer — a former adoptions supervisor — continued to collect the payments from July to November, authorities say, receiving $3,560 in Social Security. In August, more than a month after Grace’s killing, Packer filled out a required review for the Social Security Administration and did not report Grace’s death, according to an affidavit of probable cause released by authorities Friday.

Packer wrote in the report that Grace “needs constant supervision” and is “argumentative, sexually inappropriate, lies often, manipulative, steals.” In another form, she said Grace was in counseling, claimed she was “impulsive and makes dangerous decisions,” and alleged that the girl “sexually acts out with peers, younger children and older men,” according to the affidavit.

From Berks County, Packer collected $873 in subsidies in July, August and September, authorities said, and did not report the death.

On Thursday, Packer's attorney filed to waive her preliminary hearing, according to court records. Sullivan was still set to appear at the hearing, scheduled for Feb. 24.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” ~ Anatole France

Jacob Sullivan, the man accused in the rape, murder, and dismemberment of 14-year-old Grace Packer, waived his preliminary hearing Wednesday, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s office.
It was scheduled for Friday, February 24th.

That means his case will proceed to trial.
A formal arraignment for him has been scheduled for noon Friday, March 31, at the Justice Center in Doylestown.
Sullivan’s co-defendant, Sara Packer, waived her preliminary hearing earlier in February.
Her formal arraignment is scheduled for noon Friday, March 10.
Both defendants continue to be held without bail at the Bucks County prison.
Grace Packer’s adoptive mother, Sara, and Sullivan, Sara’s boyfriend, were charged in January in what authorities are calling a "rape-murder fantasy."

Investigators said Sullivan confessed to raping and killing Grace in front of Sara Packer in July, and not only was Packer complicit, but prosecutors said she later bought the tools used to dismember Grace's body and hide it in the woods after leaving the body in an attic closet for months.
Grace Packer's dismembered remains were found in a wooded area of Luzerne County back in October.

DOYLESTOWN — Former Northampton County caseworker Sara Packer will find out today if prosecutors plan to pursue the death penalty if she is convicted in the killing of her 14-year-old daughter Grace.

Packer, 42, is scheduled for formal arraignment at 10 a.m. before Judge Diane Gibbons in the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas. Packer is charged with homicide, rape, kidnapping, abuse of a corpse and more than a dozen other offenses in connection with Grace's death in July 2016.

At formal arraignment, defendants are advised of their rights and the allegations against them. In potential death penalty cases, prosecutors are required to file a Notice of Aggravating Circumstances detailing the factors that they believe warrant a potential death penalty.

Jacob Patrick Sullivan is expected to appear in court Friday for his formal arraignment on charges related to the slaying of 14-year-old Grace Packer, of Abington.

Sullivan, 44, of Horsham, was arrested in early January after police say he confessed to killing the girl with his girlfriend Sara Packer, Grace's adoptive mother, in July 2016.

Charged with criminal homicide, rape, abuse of a corpse and a number of conspiracy counts among other charges, he is expected to be arraigned before Bucks County Judge Diane E. Gibbons.

The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m., but may be pushed back to accommodate an ongoing, unrelated jury trial in Gibbons' courtroom.

Sullivan's co-defendant, Packer, 42, of Abington and Richland, was arraigned earlier this month. She faces a list of similar counts, excluding rape.
They both remain jailed at Bucks County prison without bail.

Prosecutors at Friday's hearing are likely to make an announcement on their intentions to seek the death penalty against Sullivan, having filed notice of aggravating factors earlier this week, according to court records. The possibility of the death penalty has been floated in the case practically since the moment charges were filed.

District Attorney Matthew Weintraub and Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Schorn preserved their ability to seek the death penalty against Packer at her arraignment on March 10 with a separate notice of aggravating factors.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies... By Andy Dufresne/Shawshank Redemption

Police say Sullivan also admitted squeezing the life out of Grace in a stifling hot Richland Township attic, where prosecutors say the couple left Grace to die.

The details of the killing, which prosecutors allege was the culmination of a long-planned rape and murder fantasy Sara Packer and Sullivan shared, were enough for Bucks County prosecutors to put the death penalty on the table for Sara Packer, a former adoption supervisor for Northampton County's Division of Children, Youth and Families.

As he appears before a Bucks County judge today, Sullivan will learn whether he too might face capital punishment.

Sullivan, 44, is charged with homicide, rape, kidnapping, abuse of a corpse and more than a dozen other offenses in connection with Grace's death in July 2016. His arraignment before Judge Diane Gibbons today will be his first court appearance since his arrest in January.

SNIP

Sullivan and Sara Packer are being held in the Bucks County Jail without bail. The hearing is set for 10 a.m.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies... By Andy Dufresne/Shawshank Redemption

Prosecutors said this morning they would seek the death penalty for Jacob Sullivan, if he's convicted in the rape and murder of 14-year-old Grace Packer.
Sullivan, 44, waived his formal arraignment in Bucks County Court in Doylestown, choosing to skip the court hearing in which prosecutors laid out aggravating factors — elements that raise a murder to a capital case.
Following the brief hearing before Judge Diane Gibbons, District Attorney Matt Weintraub revealed that a trial date of March 26, 2018 has been set for both Sullivan and his girlfriend, Sara Packer, Grace's adoptive mother.
"We're on a course here, a collision course, and we're going to get justice for Grace," Weintraub said

In his alleged confession,Sullivan admitted raping Grace Packer while Sara Packer watched. Police say Sullivan also admitted squeezing the life out of Grace in a stifling hot Richland Township attic, where prosecutors say the couple left Grace to die.
Prosecutors allege that the crime was the culmination of a long-planned rape and murder fantasy Sullivan shared with Sara Packer, a former adoption supervisor for Northampton County's Division of Children, Youth and Families. Sara Packer was motivated by "hatred" for Grace, court records say.
Sullivan, of Abington, Montgomery County, is charged with homicide, rape, kidnapping, abuse of a corpse and more than a dozen other offenses in connection with Grace's death in July 2016. Police say Sullivan confessed, first to hospital staff at the Horsham Clinic, where he and Sara Packer were treated following failed suicide attempts Dec. 30, then to police.

Me too, it makes me physically ill to think of what this child went through. I'll never understand how a mother could be a part of something so horrible. It's a shame the trial is not going to happen for a year.

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies... By Andy Dufresne/Shawshank Redemption

Grace Packer's Biological Parents Want to Sue Social Service Agencies That Placed Girl With Mom Accused of Killing Her

The biological parents of a 14-year-old Pennsylvania girl who authorities say was killed and dismembered by her adoptive mother are trying to become administrators of the girl's estate.

The attorney for Rose and Rodney Hunsicker say they're doing that so they can later sue the Berks County social service agencies that placed the girl, Grace Packer, with the woman accused of abusing and killing her.

snipped

The Hunsickers lost custody of Grace when she was 2. They're also concerned about two of Grace's siblings who were also adopted by Sara Packer and her ex-husband.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” ~ Anatole France